Process of vulcanizing



July 6, 1948. w. H. VAN BUREN w 3 PROCESS OF VULCANIZ ING Filed March 22, 1945 [L/aiea H-L/mEL/EEz-Z Patented July 6, 1948 Walter H. Van Buren, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New Yor N. Y., a corporation of New York v ApplicationMarch 22, 1945, SerialNo. 584,202

. i 1 This invention relates izing and is especially useful inthe vulcanization of rubberarticles such as belts, although the in vention may 'be employed for applying pressure in veneering andother operations where flexible tensioned sheet materials are employed for applying pressure during a processing operation.

In the vulcanization of many articles such as endless belts, hose, tire bands and the like, wrappers' such as sheets or bands of cotton fabric have been applied under tension about the unvulcanized article supported by a drum, mold, core, or mandrel and the wrapping has been kept in place while the article was exposed to heated gases, such as air or steam, to vulcanize-thearticle. With such wrappers it has been diflicultor impossible to obtain the desired high degree of tension, especially with wide wrappers which have required great force to apply the tension.

It is desirable in the vulcanization of some articles-to employ a wrapper such that contraction of the wrapper during vulcanization willvproduce a tensioning force. However, if the contraction takes place both longitudinally of the wrapper, that is circumferentially of the article,, and

laterally of the wrapper, the lateral contraction will in some cases produce objectionable'results. This is the case, for example, in the vulcanization of endless V -belts where the belts are assembled inparallel radially open grooves of ainold or drum and the exposed portions are bound against the mold by a wide wrapper. In such cases the lateral contraction of the wrapper tends to tilt the belts in the outermost grooves while circumferential shrinkage may be insufficient to hold the belts in the grooves against such tilting, resulting in defective belts.

It is an object of the invention to provide a wrapper having a high degree of contraction in the circumferential direction under the conditions of vulcanization of the article or articles, while the wrapper at the same time has a low degree of contraction in the lateral direction under the same conditions.

Further objects are to provide a higher degree of circumferential tension than has been obtained with prior wrappers; to provide for circumferential tension by contraction of the wrapper under the temperatures of vulcanization; and to provide for increased convenience of operation, durability of the wrapper, and increased uniformity in the high quality of the products.

These and other objects will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

to a process of -vulcan- 2 Claims. (01. 18-5 3) T 2 Of the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a curing dru for V--belts having aplurality of belts thereon and showing the wrapper of the invention'partly wound thereon, parts being broken away- Fig. 2 is aplan view'of a portion of the wrapper constructed in accordance with and embodying the invention.

Referring to the drawings, which show an illustrative application of the invention, the numeral l0 designates 'a curing drum for vulcanizing endless V-belts. The drum is formed of separable mold rings defining therebetween spacedapart parallel circumferential grooves H which unvulcanized V-belts l7. are located. For confining the belts in the grooves, and applying pressure thereto during the vulcanizing or curing operation, a cloth wrapper I5 is wound about the face of the drum under tension over the belts in a plurality of convolutions.

During vulcanization, which is accomplished by placing the drum in-an open steam vulcanizer and exposin'gthe belts to heat, the wrapper, in accordance with the invention, tends to contract substantially in the circumferential direction, and by the tension thus developed applies pressure to the belts to form them in the grooves and to provide them with a smooth outer periphery by contact with the wrapper.

To provide against lateral contraction of the wrapper and at the same timeprovide' forhigh circumferential contraction thereof, the wrapper is constructed of a substantially square-woven fabric such as that illustrated in Fig. 2 in which the warp threads 15 applied circumferentially of the drum, are of a material such as nylon, which has the property of contracting substantially under the heat of the vulcanizing chamber, whereas the lateral or filler threads l6 applied axially of the drum, are preferably of material, such as cotton, which is affected to a relatively small degree by heat. The nylon material has been found in use to contract by a much greater amount when heated than cotton material, providing substantially greater circumferential contraction than lateral contraction in the wrapper so constructed thereby applying great pressure radially of the drum to the belts thereon, while forces acting axially of the drum due to any tendency for contraction of the filler threads are relatively small and not sufficient to damage the belts by turning them laterally in the grooves of the drum.

In use, the wrappers may be wetted before applying them about the drum under tension and and the belts; The drum may than be 'remoyedfrom thevulcaniz'er and the wet wrapper re-- moved, whereupon the wrapper is ready for reuse.

While all the reasons for the superior results;

obtained by the use of a wrapper constructed ,as I

herein described may not be fully understood, it"

elements expand laterally and shrink longitudie nally when wetted due to absorption-.of water:

whereas nylon cords or other elements do not ex- 4 ially of the drum, are contracted very little if any at all after wetting by the rise in temperature or the presence of steam so that the wrapper does not change in width materially.

The superior tensile strength of nylon over cotton contributes to the great and lasting strength of the wrapper in a direction circumferential of the druln and permitsrhigh tension ing of the wrapper; and the high resistance of nylon-to mildew contributes to its long life.

Variations may be made without departing fromttheh scope of the invention as it is defined by the following claims.

' I: The method'of vulcanizing material upon an annular-form which comprises the steps of providing a pressurerapplying wrapper having warp pand laterally or shrink longitudinally to is'uehaat high degree when wetted, apparently because the nylon is more impervious to'moistur-ev Also-a as theiwrapper is as wet viz-hert wound'as'iit isatvany timmafterwarcls, any shrinking ofithe: cotton t'll-lenelementshas taken place-priorto wrappington the drum, and .any drying dueqto contactwit-h steam at: elevated temperatures,v which vwould ,resultzln elongation-l of; the filler elements, will t have no efiect upon the belts in the grooves such -a s -to tin them; -'I;he-nylon= .warp elements-apparently undergolittle change; in length due =to-wetting and: drying but, on vthe other hand-,- it'hase-been found thatthe n-ylon elementsrif tensionedat one tern: per-ature, when subjected to a higher 5 tempera: ture while still tensioned will tend to contract a considerableamount in length- .v Cotton elements under-similartreatmentwillalso contract ,butby a t-greatly: lesseramount. Tests. have shown thecontraction of a nylon element to be, about! six-,-. tenthapercent change for 100 F. risein temperature whereas with cotton elements the. change; is=less than one-tenth percentrandas. low asabout-six one -hundredths-percent for the same increase in temperature. Itis found thatlwhen a1 drumwrapped with the wet wrapper. 0t the ine vention is pl-aceddn: the vulcanizer inzthepres- 611C610? steamg. where the; temperature is about 300 Fr, the nylonelementsof the. wrapper ,which extend circumferentially of the: drum are sharply tensioned by tendencytocommonproviding greater molding-pressure, while the previously wetted'filler elements of cottongwhichfextendaxe threads of nylon and weft threads of cotton, winding the wrapper about the material upon the form with said warp threads extending circumferentiallysof the rform' and :thenuoontracting. the nylon :wa'rp threads ,ofathe: wrapper. upon the ma,- terial on: the form byvsubj ectingthezsame tmthe,

hcatof vulc'anization. I V

2; The method of' vuicanizingea plurality; of endless V.-be1ts upon an annularvform which pom.- prises the steps of winding uponsaidN-beltsupon the form .a A pressure-applying; viz-rapper, of: a .width to sever -the axial'zextentof" the vV-belts upon" the form 'and' h-aving a pluralityofiwarp threads-0t nylon extending in the circumferential direction about the form and a: plurality of weft threads or cotton in the axial direction: ofithe form, and then contracting the nylon warp: threads. of; the wound-wrapperupon the belts by subjecting-the same to' the heatrof: vulcanization.

WALTER H: VAN "BUREN.

' REFERENGES CITED- The. following references are of record in the le. v f: h s Raten UNITED STATES en'rnN'rs-v Number! 

